NEWSROOM

European E-commerce Market: € 363 Billion in 2013

Tuesday, June 17 2014

BRUSSELS | The European online consumer sales of goods and services grew by 16.3% to € 363.1 billion in 2013. The EU28, including UK, Germany and France, achieved an e-commerce turnover of € 276.5 billion - almost 88% of the total European ecommerce turnover.

New European B2C E-commerce Report 2014

The new European B2C E-commerce Report 2014 by Ecommerce Europe was published during the Global E-commerce Summit 2014 in Barcelona. The European e-commerce figures are compiled with various national e-commerce associations and in cooperation with GfK.

European Ecommerce Outlook: €425 billion in 2014

Wijnand Jongen, Chairman of Ecommerce Europe’s Executive Committee: “We expect an online revenue of €425.5 billion in 2014. And towards the end of 2016, we believe that the European consumer e-commerce turnover will have increased to around € 625 billion. The growth forecast is enabled through the higher spending per e-shopper in mature countries as well as through an increase in the number of e-consumers in emerging countries.”

UK eCommerce Market ranks 1 in Europe

In 2013, the countries with the highest turnover were once again the United Kingdom (€ 107.1 billion), Germany (€ 63.4 billion) and France (€ 51.1 billion). The total of € 221.6 billion of these three nations combined represents 61% of the total European B2C e-commerce sector, and 69% of the EU28.

E-commerce key driver for European economy

Europe’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have reached €16.4 trillion in 2013, and the share of the EU28’s GDP in this amount was 79.5%. Ecommerce Europe estimates the share of the European B2C Internet economy, the eGDP index, at 2.2%, a percentage that is set to double by 2016 and to triple by 2020.

650,000 ecommerce sites

Ecommerce Europe estimates the number of B2C websites to have grown to 650,000 at the end of 2013. For the upcoming years, a yearly increase of 15 to 20% is forecast. In addition, the number of jobs created directly or indirectly by the B2C e-commerce sector is estimated at more than two million in Europe. Both estimates are based on the on-going increase and penetration of online in society, and the projected growth of B2C e-commerce.

E-commerce penetration and growth differ per region

There are large differences in development between the mature markets in Northern and Western Europe and the emerging countries in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. With a B2C e-commerce turnover of € 177.7 billion, Western Europe (the United Kingdom, France, the Benelux countries and Ireland) represented almost 50% of the total European e-commerce market. Mainly because of the presence of two of the three largest European e-commerce markets (the UK and France), it is still the region with the highest B2C e-commerce turnover in Europe.

Germany is the second largest e-commerce market in Europe

Central Europe, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland, was the second-largest e-commerce region in Europe last year, with a B2C e-commerce turnover of € 93.2 billion (25.7%). After the UK, Germany is the largest e-commerce market in Europe and therefore it is the main driver of this region.

Russia shows spectacular growth

In 2013, Southern Europe, including Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Turkey, strengthened its third position with an e-commerce turnover of € 40.8 billion. This represents a share of 11.2% in the total European e-commerce market. Northern Europe, consisting of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland and the Baltic states, ranked fourth in terms of e-commerce turnover, with € 32.0 billion and this represents a market share of 8.8%. The Eastern European region, led by Russia, showed a spectacular e-commerce growth of 47.4%. As a result, its turnover amounted to 19.3 billion, which equaled a market share of 5.3%.

Asia-Pacific largest e-commerce region in the world

Ecommerce Europe also published the first outcome of its Global B2C e-Report, which is to be published in the fall of 2014. In 2013, Asia-Pacific was the largest B2C e-commerce market of products and services in the world. This was largely due to the huge Chinese market. The turnover of this market includes C2C, part of it being turnover of rural SMEs that are registered as C2C through “consumer accounts” at popular market places.

Global e-Commerce Market Trends

With a B2C e-commerce turnover of € 406.1 billion (+16.7%), this region was larger than Europe (€ 363.1 billion, +16.3%) and North America (€ 333.5 billion, +6.0%). The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) experienced the fastest growth last year; its B2C e-commerce turnover grew by 32.6% to € 11.9 billion. It was followed by Latin America, which grew by 24.6% to € 37.9 billion.

About Ecommerce Europe

Ecommerce Europe is the association representing 5,000+ companies selling products and/or services online to consumers in Europe. Founded by leading national e-commerce associations, its mission is to advance the interests and influence of e-commerce in Europe through advocacy, communication and networking. Please visit their website.